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How strictly do you play the rules?

How do you play?

  • PGA rules all the way

    Votes: 15 37.5%

  • modified rules

    Votes: 25 62.5%
  • Total voters
    40
OGputtnfool said:
Wouldn't that be following everything by the book anyway if there's a local rule allowing that?
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I guess it would. I just play all my posting rounds by the exact same rules that are used in all tournaments at the club.
 
I went with PGA tour but that is not really what I do. I follow USGA Handicapping rules pretty closely. For example if I am playing a round and can’t find a ball I don’t go back and re-tee like I would have to in a tournament then put the appropriate score in that I would have to for my handicap. For most of us out playing casual golf playing strict PGA tour rules is unreasonable for things like a lost ball as it slows down pace of play on the course. I also will accept conceded putts in a match. I do play a bit of tournament golf which is by strict rules.
 
I play by the rules for all of my rounds. I’m probably most guilty of giving putts or not having myself or playing partners hitting a ball that’s going to cause damage like hitting off a root or other type of surface. We aren’t pros to risk injury just to stay “true” to the rules.
 
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I think that there are so many different rules that following each one to the letter is practically impossible for most golfers. I tend to follow as much as I can, purely because I like to keep a fair score and actually know whether I'm making progress or not. Few hings I'll tweak though, just to make life a little more bearable. Unless I hit one obviously OB, I will take a lost ball as a lateral hazard and just add a shot, not a chance I'm walking back to the tee in a casual round. Tend to give myself putts within a couple of feet, that sort of thing. Competitions are different, but I'm not out there trying to earn a living, I'm just wanting to have fun and relax after a tough day.
 
We play OB as a hazard and drop reasonably near the line of entry rather than rehit.

Most of my friends play it up. I play it down.

Gimmes inside the leather.
 
My friends all play OB as lateral hazard. We also do not hit out of fairway divots (sue me). Other than that we play it as it lies and follow the rules. I have lately been playing bunkers as waste areas if there is no rake.
 
I play as close to the rules as best I can but I don't know every single golf rule. The league I play with move the balls on the fairway to a good lie when low or in a divot (league rules) and often I see them moving the ball up on a high piece of grass within a club length, to get the best possible shot out.

I don't think the league rule to move the ball on the fairway was intended for that purpose - mostly for deep divots would be my guess. Since it is league rules, ok, but I play it where it lands because I want to play by the real golf rules.
 
Sidebar: I don't mind if others play it up, even if there's a wager. I get a kick out of winning while playing it down.

However, if there's a wager, I will keep an eye on the score, and lob a "Bogey? So... that was 1 off the tee into the hazard, 2 penalty stroke, 3 missed the green, 4 on and 2 putts for a 6... right?"

For some reason that bugs me more than someone fluffing their lie. Probably because I understand how daunting it is to try and hit a green from a fairway divot or some other nasty lie, but I feel like we should all be expected to keep track of our strokes and perform simple sums reasonably well.
 
I am a degenerate cheater. I cheat so much, you probably can't reasonably call what I do on a course "golf".
 
I strictly play by the rules barring the lost ball/OB, for that I take a drop and a 2 stroke penalty if I don't hit a provisional, but I think that's often a local rule anyway. Also with no rakes I clean and place in bunkers these days, another local rule. Fairway divots are played down, and no gimmes outside the leather.

Why not? I don't get those that play modified rules, are you scribbling a great score and proclaiming success? don't see it, I'd rather hold my head high with a real 90 than a fake 80 any day. You can have just as much fun with your buddies and a high score.
 
I have always played 100% by the rules, (I'm anal like that) but when I was in Lanzarote , a volcanic island with only 18 patches of grass, we introduced a rule that you could walk back 50 yards with your ball if the lie in the rough suggested you would break a club. Without that option, we would have gone home with fourteen pieces of useless metal each.
 
99.7% by the rules.
But, I won't go back to the tee if I lose a ball that should be found, I will drop and take a penalty.
I almost always hit a provisional if any doubt, so it doesn't happen very often.
I don't want to hold up the group behind.
 
Qwkz51 said:
My men's scramble league plays modified rules because we're all a bunch of hackers who can't keep the ball in play. :ROFLMAO: so anything during our rounds that goes ob is played as a lateral. We play the ball up from the rough, take a club length on unplayable lies and gimme putts are putter length. I feel like as long as everyone is playing by the same rules, that's all that matters. Good is hard enough we're trying to have fun and we ask recognize our shot at going pro is nonexistent. How do you play? What changes does your group make?
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If it's a league with rules everyone is following...I guess I don't see a problem with it. I wouldn't count those rounds toward a handicap or anything like that. I generally follow the rules pretty tightly...if I break a rule, it's because I didn't know the rule, I guess. We do sometimes take a mulligan on the first tee (especially without any warmups, etc). Other than that...the guy I generally play with...we follow the rules pretty tight (which, for poor golfers like us, doesn't help the scores!)

But again for a scramble league if you're all having fun and all playing the same way....eh...do what you like.
 
Rules ... don't need no stinkin rules! :sneaky: At this point in my golfing career, I play to have fun. I don't play competitively anymore ... I played over 10 years of playing everything by the rules to a T, so that was enough for me. I will break every rule in the book if I have to if it allows me to have fun. If I shoot 72 by "my rules" & you claim it was an 80, I don't care. I still had fun beating you. HA! ;)
 
A heck of a lot more than I did before becoming a member here. I used to claim my personal best round was 86 (the only time I've broken 90). But Lord knows how many mulligans, fluffed up lies, penalty strokes not assessed, etc. that that round contained.
 
I play in a strict league so there I play by the rules. If I am going to post a score then I also play by the rules. I always start out playing by the rules but if there are a bunch of lost balls or questions then it is back to playing for fun. I am a 9-10 handicap so there is no point putting a 93 into my GHIN as I will have 4-5 rounds right after that in the low to mid 80's. I can't even sandbag right. :ROFLMAO:
 
Dartgod said:
A heck of a lot more than I did before becoming a member here. I used to claim my personal best round was 86 (the only time I've broken 90). But Lord knows how many mulligans, fluffed up lies, penalty strokes not assessed, etc. that that round contained.
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I hear ya. That's my point exactly. If one does not follow the rules the same every time (and it's so much easier if you just try to follow all of them all the time), then one can never tell when one is getting better.

I'd rather post an 85 with zero rules infractions that a 72 with 4 gimme putts, 3 mulligans, 2 foot wedges, and a partridge in a pear tree.
 
A loose version of the proper rules, for sure.

I'm not full sweating a drop when I am near a cart path or sprinkler head, or etc etc. I'll go within reason, avoid the tee markings, and drop it.
 
Canadan said:
A loose version of the proper rules, for sure.

I'm not full sweating a drop when I am near a cart path or sprinkler head, or etc etc. I'll go within reason, avoid the tee markings, and drop it.
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Tee markings?
 
At this point I’m very close to following the “rules” as I understand them. I’m not that removed from being a beginner, I recall the absurdity of try to follow the rules when my rounds were a chaotic mess. Insisting that folks shooting well over a hundred follow the ROG is an act of cruelty. When your shooting bogeyish golf with only one or two penalties a round following the rules is pretty easy.
 
My golf league has modified rules - Winter rules within the tree line of the course. It is a fun league, and without this rule many golfers would not play, and we'd have 5-6 hour rounds. No gimmees, but I've been known to concede a 12" or less putt on occasion.
 
If I am in a tournament or playing for money, then I'm not doing anything without anyone else's permission, but if playing my own score and I am in the rough on top of scattered rocks, then I am rolling off the rocks and trying not to improve my lie or angle. Little things like that. If I am in practice mode, then I am not keeping a score anyway - just practicing some changes I am working on.
 
H8tobogie said:
...then I am rolling off the rocks and trying not to improve my lie or angle.
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When you roll it off the rocks, doesn't that immediately improve your lie?
 
Snowman said:
We allow gimmes (for very close putts), roll the ball out of divots, give free relief from rocks in desert waste areas so we don't trash our clubs, and occasionally institute our own "local rules" for adverse course conditions (our course never marks GUR, even when it obviously is).
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We could play together. A lot of the rediculous stuff we don't play. Although, never offered or asked for relief out of a divot. Gimmes for me better be close and straight in league, but weekend mornings sure take it.
 
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